Allow visitation of children across national borders: U.S., Canadian, French, British ministers urge Japan to sign Hague treaty
May 22, 2009
Norio Noro
A symposium on finding a solution to the problem of Japanese citizens married to foreigners bringing their children back to Japan after divorce and denying the other parent visitation rights was heard at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on May 21. The ministers of the U.S., Canadian, French, and British embassies in Japan held a joint news conference where they asked that the « Japanese government sign the Hague treaty at an early date. »
Appeal by U.S., Canadian, French, and British ministers
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michele Bond spoke earnestly about the « tragedy » of the affected parents and children: « There have been 73 cases, affecting 104 children, of Japanese parents, mostly mothers, bringing their children to Japan and refusing visitation rights to the American parents. This is the largest number among non-members of the treaty. »
The Hague treaty protects children from the harmful effects of being brought across borders unlawfully, returns them to the country where they previously lived, and protects the right of parents to see their children.
There are 81 members of this treaty, and Japan and Russia are the only G-8 countries that have not signed the treaty. Japanese citizens are involved in the largest number of disputes among the East Asian countries, but the government has been unreceptive to the treaty.
Minister David Fitton of the British Embassy said: « There have been 36 disputes since 2003, and 11 of them remain unresolved. There had been no progress in the other cases and the British parents have given up. » French minister Christophe Penot reported that, « The mother would not even accept the letter sent by the father to his daughter in Japan, and he was devastated. This may develop into a political issue between Japan and France. »
Canadian minister Donald Bobiash also noted that « the protection of children under treaty is also in the interest of Japan. » Maura Harty, senior policy director for the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States, called for « doing what is best for the children. »
At the end of the news conference, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires James Zumwalt said: « Disputes are expected to increase from now on, so this is an urgent and important issue. » The joint press statement issued strongly urges the Japanese government to « implement measures such as facilitating parental visits. »

At a press conference held today at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, the charge d’affaires of the United States and ministers from the British, French, Canadian embassies revealed that international child abductions had become a serious problem. They issued a joint statement calling on Japan to sign the Hague Convention, which aims at resolving the trouble resulting from international child abductions.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michelle Bond, who attended the press conference, stressed the seriousness of the problem, saying: « Between the U.S. and Japan, there are 73 cases involving 104 persons of children having taken back to Japan. For the U.S., this is the second largest number of cases in the world, and the highest among countries that have ratified the agreement. » According the ministers of the other countries, England has reached 36 cases, France, 26 cases, and Canada, 33 cases.

In order to prevent a parent from an international marriage that ended in divorce from returning to his or her country wrongfully taking a child or children from the marriage, the Hague Convention was adopted in 1980. On May 21, U.S. Charge d’Affaires ad interim James Zumwalt and the representatives of three other countries, Britain, France and Canada, held a press convention at the U.S. Embassy to urge Japan to become a signatory of the treaty.
Those countries signing the treaty are obliged to make efforts to return the abducted child to the country in which he or she had lived. To date, eighty-one countries have signed the convention, but Japan alone among the Group of Seven countries has yet to sign.
Cases of a divorced Japanese parent wrongfully taking a child back to his or her country, denying the foreign parent access to the child have increased. The four countries during the press conference stated that the number of cases between their respective country and Japan ranged from over twenty to over 70.

Allies urge Japan to resolve child abductions
Thu, 21 May 2009 11:06:52 UTC JAPAN-ABDUCTION/ By Isabel Reynolds
TOKYO, May 21 (Reuters) – The United States and three other countries on Thursday urged Japan to relieve the plight of a rising number of foreign nationals who are denied contact with their children by their Japanese former spouses.
Well over 100 such cases involving parents from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada are in stalemate, senior diplomats from the four countries told a news conference.
« Without a doubt, Japan’s allies are united in their concern regarding this tragic issue of international child abduction, » said Michele Bond, a U.S. consular affairs official.
One reason for the problem is that Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven major industrialised nations not to have signed a 1980 convention on international child abduction.
« The left-behind parents of children abducted to or from Japan have little realistic hope of having their children returned and encounter great difficulties in obtaining access, » the group said in a statement released at the news conference.
« We therefore call upon Japan to accede to the convention. »
Japan’s government says it is considering joining the 80 member countries who have already signed.
« We are actually studying the possibility of signing the convention, » said Takeshi Akamatsu, assistant press secretary at the Foreign Ministry. « One of the issues concerned is that in the Japanese legal system, we refrain from interfering in these private issues, » he said.
It is not unusual in Japan for one parent, often the father, to lose all contact with their offspring after a divorce.
Japan’s joining the convention would not help foreign parents who divorced in Japan get access to their children, and the diplomats urged the government to deal with existing cases individually.
Paul Wong, a 43-year-old Tokyo-based U.S. lawyer lost touch with his small daughter after his Japanese wife died and her parents successfully sued to remove his parental rights.
He is pursuing a legal appeal, but has not seen his child for two years.
« I can never give up hope for my daughter because she has no one else to protect her, » he said in a telephone interview.
(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Paul Tait)